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From family-friendly frights and creepy soirées to intense experiences that promise big scares, here are our recommendations for London's best immersive experiences this Halloween... As always, October is looking to be a bumper month for spooky immersive experiences in the capital. To help you make the most of the spooky season, we've gathered together all the information you need to make your next night out a great one. Below is our pick of the best experiences on offer across the month for those looking for various levels of frights. From family-friend spooks to intense experiences, there's something on offer for everyone's taste this Halloween, if you're brave enough... Phantom Peak - Hallowed Peak We've spoken at length previously about how good Phantom Peak is. In our opinion, this platypus-loving mining town is the most enjoyable immersive experience currently on offer in London. While it's open nearly year-round with regular updates and re-themes, Halloween is when the place comes into its own. Their Lunar Festival returns for a third year, with both previous Hallowed Peak seasons having enjoyed multiple sold-out dates. There are 10 brand new story trails available for guests to experience this season, and if they are anything like previous years you can expect to be doing anything from banishing demons to encountering haunted dolls, visiting the Undertakers for a coffin fitting, and almost certainly lending a hand to the town's resident paranormal investigators - Spectre and Vox. Brand new for Hallowed Peak 2024 is The Lunar Remedy, a cocktail experience add-on that will see guests in search of a remedy to a series of strange afflictions that are spreading among the townsfolk of Phantom Peak. In a race against the clock, guests will need to explore the town and interact with its characters in a self-guided experience that culminates with a mix-it-yourself cocktail, along with an exclusive trail card. Photos: Alistair Veryard This is an important and eerie time of year for the residents of Phantom Peak. It’s the time of year when the moon is closest to the Ridge, and Diamant begins to react in strange and unpredictable ways. Spirits rise from the grave, creatures lurk in the shadows, and the Church of the Cosmic Platypus raves in style! Expect a thoroughly original take on the Halloween traditions that made this unique event so popular in 2023! Phantom Peak is a family-friendly experience, and the free-roaming, experience-at-your-own-pace design of the show means you can take a break from the storylines at any time and pick them back up without missing anything. There's a string of other activities on offer including carnival games, the annual costume competition and multiple food and drink options. The show's creators describe Hallowed Peak are 'more spooky than scary', so it's an ideal experience for those wanting a Halloween experience that's not intense. 📍 Canada Water 💰 From £42.00 👻 Scare Level: 1/5 🕒 27th September - 10th November 2024 🎟️ Book via phantompeak.com Open House: The Escape Room - Screamworks In recent years, ScreamWorks has earned a reputation for creating London's best immersive horror experiences. Their debut show, Bloodbath, launched in late 2022 and was unlike anything else on offer in the capital at the time. It pushed the boundaries and conventions of immersive theatre to an extreme and saw visitors being force-fed, tied up, undressed, and chased through an air vent on their hands and knees. Last year saw them debut The Ghost Hunt - another exceptionally scary immersive horror experience that had guests make their way through a Victorian house illuminated only by torchlight. Set within the abandoned home of the Luff family, who all met their end in bloody murder-suicide back in 1937, visitors were invited by paranormal investigator Hector Phoenix to explore the family home and discover the truth behind what really caused their horrific deaths. For 2024, they return with Open House: The Escape Room. The experience is a combination of immersive theatre and escape room elements, and ScreamWorks CEO Gary Stocker describes it as their most exciting immersive concept yet - being the culmination of everything they've learnt in the last few years. East London’s most haunted house is up for sale and seasoned ' escape agent’ Jason Shepherd has teamed up with ScreamWorks to present one of the most innovative house-hunting events of the season: Open House – the immersive escape game. What better way to explore and experience the highlights of this unique property than to be locked inside, with a delicious drink from our brand sponsor and a host of fun games and challenges to complete? This enormous Victorian mansion is dripping in history, full of characters and the perfect forever home for a young couple or family looking to take their lives to the next stage. With a bathroom to die for and a suite of bedrooms that will guarantee you rest in peace, this captivating property won’t cost you an arm and a leg! While the house has a guide price of £666k, the current vendors are keen for a quick sale and are willing to accept any offers whatsoever. Photos of previous ScreamWorks shows. Open House will run between 60 to 90 minutes depending on the type of booking made - the 90-minute experience is set to be more intense and be warned - includes moments of climbing and crawling. Those who are curious enough during the house tour may also uncover hidden paths and secrets, leading them down even more terrifying routes through the experience. 📍 Bethnal Green 💰 From £45.00 👻 Scare Level: 3.5/5 🕒 From 27th September 2024 🎟️ Book via screamworks.london Tales of the Strange The creators of Tales of the Strange are well-versed in providing great Halloween outings. For several years they ran Ghost Newington, a must-loved immersive walking tour that had visitors exploring the winding backstreets, cobbled yards and haunted ale houses of Stoke Newington under night fall. Last year saw them swap the streets of Stokey for a bricks-and-mortar venue in Haggerston with The House of Dust, which invited visitors to enjoy three supernatural cocktails as The Ghost Master took them on a twisted journey through the annals of time to a world where ghosts, murderers and ghouls were brought to life. For 2024 they've shifted down to Brixton for Tales Of The Strange. The show is a collaboration between JimJack ( part of the team behind Macabre & Ghost Newington ) and Vi & Sly - a design duo know for creating hauntingly creepy puppets and props. In a last ditch attempt to save his ailing career, horror writer Jeffrey Thrillerman dares you to encounter some of his twisted tales, brought to life for the first time by a motley team of actors. Housed within a haunted railway arch in Brixton, this pop-up extravaganza is part theatrical experience, part bar and wholly good vibes! So, grab a cocktail and hang with your friends as we regale you with an anthology of strange tales. What’s that? You’re feeling peckish? Fear not, we’ll have a selection of dastardly dishes available, prepared by dead-chef Danny Jack. Oh, and after the performance we wont just kick you out onto the cold streets of Brixton, no ma’am! You’ll get to hang out for the night in the tunnel of Strange. You can drink, dance, feast and frolic to the dead in style. Perhaps you’ll regale new found friends with your own tales as our house DJ’s play groovy 70s vibes.  📍 Brixton 💰 From £40.00 👻 Scare Level: ?/5 🕒 31st October - 2nd November 2024 🎟️ Book via designmynight.com Make Believe: A Halloween Grotto This Halloween season brings with it the debut show from Scarehand Productions, a new venture from Christopher Blackmore, Amy Sherlock, and David Hoskin. The company's mission is to "create boundary-pushing Halloween experiences soaked in atmosphere and scares," and with over 20 years of combined expertise, they're well-equipped to deliver. Christopher Blackmore was one of the writers for Deathcell, the much-talked about extreme immersive horror experience that returns to London in early 2025 with Deathcell: Magenta , and David Hoskin did the dramatergy and sound design for Gorgon: A Horror Story back in 2021, which BroadwayWorld described as " evocative and terrifying". If the trigger warnings for Make Believe: A Halloween Grotto are anything to go by, you can expect a claustrophobic, anxiety-inducing experience that touches on suicide, wasps and most terrifyingly of all... germs. This Halloween, cross into the Grotto—a shadowy world where innocence and nightmares collide. Inside, your deepest childhood memories twist into something darker, more menacing. What was once joyful becomes unnervingly sinister, forcing you to confront your inner fears. Not everything is as it seems, as the veil between what is real and make believe gets thinner... A 30 minute horror-filled experience, audiences are guided through eerie, atmospheric den of memories and compelled to follow the Grotto’s cryptic commands in an unnerving journey to meet your forgotten inner child. Expect interactive performances, haunting visuals, and spine-tingling surprises that will leave you questioning what is real and what is make-believe. This isn’t your typical haunted house; it’s a chilling journey of self-discovery and terror. Are you brave enough to enter the Grotto? 📍 Loughborough Junction 💰 From £15.00 👻 Scare Level: 4.5/5 🕒 25th October - 2nd November 2024 🎟️ Book via designmynight.com Check back here later in the month, as we'll be updating this guide with some more exciting shows. For the latest news and updates on all the best immersive Halloween experiences in London this October, follow us on Twitter  or Instagram 🎃

Screamworks, London's premier immersive horror creators, return with Open House - a new experience for Halloween that fuses immersive horror and escape rooms. In recent years, ScreamWorks has earned a reputation for creating London's best immersive horror experiences. Their debut show, Bloodbath, launched in late 2022 and was unlike anything else on offer in the capital at the time. It pushed the boundaries of immersive theatre to an extreme and saw visitors being force-fed, tied up, undressed, and chased through an air vent on their hands and knees. Last year saw them launch The Ghost Hunt - another exceptionally scary immersive horror experience that had guests make their way through a Victorian house illuminated only by torchlight. Set within the abandoned home of the Luff family, who all met their end in bloody murder-suicide in 1937. Visitors were invited by paranormal investigator Hector Phoenix to explore the family home and discover the truth behind what caused their horrific deaths. "I think it's the scariest show we've done yet by far. We're building on the things that have worked so far in our experiences, but it's always been about psychological fear more than anything else." ScreamWork's Gary Stocker on Open House: The Escape Room Bloodbath by ScreamWorks (2022) For 2024, they return with Open House: The Escape Room. The experience is a combination of immersive theatre and escape room elements. ScreamWorks CEO Gary Stocker describes it as their most exciting immersive concept yet, and the culmination of everything they've learnt in the last few years. "I've always liked escape rooms for the fact that they really are quite immersive and give you a little bit more agency," says Stocker "but then there are some massive challenges with them that we've been butting our heads against - trying to tell a story in an escape room is almost impossible. People want to play the games, but they're so disruptive to the story because you can't really make someone believe that they're in a real story and then suddenly you go 'throw these ping pong balls into this cup to get a clue'. We needed a format where the games could work and coexist, but still allow us to tell a story." The Ghost Hunt (2023) by ScreamWorks The official description for Open House: The Escape Room is as follows... East London’s most haunted house is up for sale, and seasoned ‘escape agent’ Jason Shepherd has teamed up with ScreamWorks to present one of the most innovative house-hunting events of the season: Open House – the escape room. What better way to explore and experience the highlights of this unique property than to be locked inside for up to two hours, with a delicious drink from our brand sponsor and a host of fun games and challenges to complete? Possessed by the previous inhabitants for almost half a century, this enormous Victorian mansion is dripping in history, full of characters, and the perfect forever home for a young couple or family looking to take their lives to the next stage. With a bathroom to die for and a suite of bedrooms that will guarantee you rest in peace, this captivating property won’t cost you an arm and a leg! While the house has a guide price of £666k, the current vendors are keen for a quick sale and are willing to accept any offers whatsoever. Bloodbath by ScreamWorks (2022) Open House will run between 60 to 90 minutes depending on the choices visitors make. They will have complete freedom to choose their path, and those who are curious enough may uncover hidden secrets leading them down even more terrifying routes. Gary Stocker is eager for people to explore these options: "It's perfectly possible to come to this experience, play the games, and leave thinking that there was nothing else to it. However, there's a game inside the game to be found. For those people who are curious enough to explore and find it, they will end up having a completely different experience. We've decided to reward the curious and, in many respects, punish them too. We'll reward you by making you feel like you're going to die." Bloodbath by ScreamWorks (2022) Each group will be guided by Jason Shepherd, the property's "escape agent," who serves as both guide and game master as visitors complete a series of puzzles and tasks. For each completed task, there's a small gift from one of the show's brand sponsors, plus a complimentary drink during the house tour. Screamworks will also provide digital copies of photos and videos taken during key moments of the experience, accessible via a portal on their website. According to Stocker, this addition was developed in response to frequent requests from visitors: "It's a really nice addition because when everyone leaves our shows, they always ask 'Is there any chance I can see some footage from the CCTV cameras of this bit?' We basically have a full-time team actioning customers' requests at the minute for the footage. So now that this is launching, it'll happen automatically." Ghost Hunt by ScreamWorks (2023) Tickets for Open House are priced at £45.00 per person, with options for either public or private time slots. Each slot can hold between 2 to 7 people, and returning visitors will receive a discount if they wish to come back and try alternative paths through the experience. You can book via screamworks.london Photos from ScreamWorks' previous productions. Open House runs in Bethnal Green from 27th September 2024 until 3rd November. Tickets start at £45.00 per person and can be booked via screamworks.london

Guests gather for the wake of Dieter Roterberg in The Magician's Table, the new immersive close-up magic show from Right Angle Entertainment at a secret London location. Magic is currently having quite the moment within London's immersive scene. This month, two new shows - Rhythm & Ruse and The Magician’s Table - have opened, both promising an unforgettable night of music, cocktails, and close-up magic. They're also both laying claim to being the best close-up immersive show in town. With our five-star review of Rhythm&Ruse already posted, it's time to see what tricks The Magician's Table has up its sleeve. Photo: The Magician's Table The Magician’s Table invites guests to attend the wake of Dieter Roterberg, a famed carnival owner, magician, and collector of curiosities. Magicians from across the globe have gathered within his private performance space to celebrate his life and legacy alongside his widow, Calliope (Shea Wotjus). Under strict instructions left by Dieter, Calliope is tasked with following his meticulously planned script—covering everything from lighting cues to seating arrangements. This final night of music and magic is designed to be a fitting farewell to Roterberg, as well as an opportunity for his closest friends to attempt a trick that evaded him throughout his life.   The show has been written by BAFTA and Olivier award-winning writer Iain Sharkey, who is best known for co-writing several of Derren Brown’s TV specials and live shows, including Svengali, The Push, and Sacrifice. Photo: The Magician's Table From the moment you enter the venue, magic is front and centre, with every corner of the pre-show bar playing host to one of the show's numerous magicians performing for crowds as they mingle around the room. It's an atmospheric space to have your first taste of what's to come later, as well as your only opportunity to get a drink directly from the bar, with drinks being   served by table service only once seated. The drinks on offer are the usuals - beer, wine, snacks, as well as a selection of cocktails from a menu that includes Cinnamon Espresso Martinis and Negronitas alongside Spicy Margaritas, Rum Punch, and Raspberry Gin Fizz.   The bulk of the show takes place within Dieter's private performance space. With 10 semi-circle tables holding up to 12 people each, it's got ample room to house his closest friends and family. Overlooking them all from centre stage is Dieter’s illuminated death mask, a dramatic and fitting tribute to a man who clearly had a flair for the theatrical. Photo: The Magician's Table During our visit, we spent time with Richard McDougall, Harry De Cruz, Dee Christopher, Nick Stein, and Martyn Rowland. Collectively, their magic covers a wide spectrum - from sleight of hand to mentalism, card tricks, and cup and ball. While most of the tricks were impressively done, there were a couple of moments in which they were a bit too simple to not be quickly worked out. This may be an occupational hazard with doing close-up magic, but it does pull you out of the immersion somewhat when the solution to a trick isn't concealed quite as well as it could be.   Out of everyone we saw, the most extreme act was Dee Christopher, whose tricks incorporated both a syringe and a vile of Dieter's blood. The gruesome details are best left unsaid, but it had our table enthralled - half unable to look away, half averting their eyes in fear. Inherently, there's a thrill from seeing these performances up close, and the willingness of the cast to involve everyone at the table means we all had a part to play in the tricks. Photo: The Magician's Table In addition to the up-close magic, several set pieces are orchestrated by Calliope on the main stage, highlighting impressive feats of mentalism. During her opening remarks, she reflects on how she was often relegated to the role of assistant, spending too many nights being sawed in half or preparing props behind the scenes. With Dieter now gone, this is her chance to step into his shoes and achieve what he never could. Photo: The Magician's Table One trick recounts the night in Paris when Dieter and Calliope first fell in love. Dieter, an avid painter, attempted to read her mind and, through his brushstrokes, recreate the image she envisioned—a trick they now re-enact with the help of an audience member lying on a chaise lounge, alongside magician Gareth Kalyan. Later in the show, the elusive trick that Dieter spent his life chasing, known as The Magician's Table, is attempted by Calliope and Gareth with the audience’s participation. To reveal what happens would be to spoil the climax of the show, but it's an affecting and tender conclusion to the night that is the most reminiscent of the kind of tricks you'd see in a Derren Brown live show.   While these moments with Calliope enrich the world of The Magician’s Table, giving insight into her and Dieter's relationship, there’s a noticeable flaw in the way her role is handled. Despite her earlier commentary on spending much of her life relegated to the sidelines as an assistant, she continues to play that part as a male magician executes the tricks. It feels like a missed opportunity not to have Calliope perform this final trick herself. Seeing her succeed where her late husband could not would have been a far more satisfying and empowering moment. Photo: The Magician's Table It's clear that The Magician's Table has been created and directed by people with a deep love and respect for the craft - the show is a wonderful showcase for what makes close-up magic so enthralling to watch. Although the range of tricks on display is diverse, sadly, the show's cast is quite far from it. While in part this is a systemic issue within the UK magic industry, with as little as 5% of the 1700 members that make up The Magic Circle identifying as women, it's hard to justify having a lineup of magicians that are all male, when just 2 miles up the road Rhythm&Ruse has no such problem.   With two competing immersive magic shows currently open in London, people may well be weighing up which show to prioritise seeing first. Regardless of their choice, the act of witnessing close-up magic is undoubtedly a joy, and to see the form have this sudden resurgence will likely open many people's eyes to how great magic can be when done right. Despite some uneven moments within The Magician's Table, it's an enjoyable night out that's likely unlike anything else out there (unless you've also seen Rhythm&Ruse). ★★★ ½ Correction: We've updated this review to remove mention of the show's magician cast being ‘all-white, all-male’ as Gareth Kalyan is of South Asian heritage. The Magician's Table is currently booking until 16th February 2025, with tickets priced from £37.50. Find out more about the show and book via magicianstablelive.com To stay up to date on news, previews and reviews of more immersive shows like The Magician's Table, follow us on Instagram .

A heady mix of cabaret, close-up magic, and curated cocktails creates an unforgettable night at The Starling in new immersive show Rhythm&Ruse 'Embrace unknowing' is a mantra that's repeated often throughout Rhythm&Ruse. It's an encouragement to accept that not everything we see can be explained, not every question will be answered, and not being in control can be liberating. Within the world of The Starling, there's little choice but to give over to that mantra and be taken along for the ride. Photo: Rhythm & Ruse Directed by Fania Grigoriou, devised by Sam Booth and Mallory Gracenin, and with musical direction from Naomi Banks, Rhythm&Ruse carried a heavy weight on its shoulders from the moment it was first announced. There's a certain pedigree that comes with having such well-known names within the world of immersive collaborating on an entirely original production, and thankfully, the show not only meets those lofty expectations but exceeds them. With a five-piece jazz band, close-up magic, and a curated selection of five cocktails included with your ticket, the show may well be London's best night out.   Our introduction into the world of Rhythm&Ruse begins with a welcome speech from Ruby (Jessica Hern, The Great Gatsby Immersive/Doctor Who: Time Fracture), a society member at The Starling who immediately sets the tone for the evening's proceedings. We're told to prepare for an evening of wonder in which we'll leave the real world behind and be able to embrace our truest selves. Bubbling just below the surface of this speech, and many others throughout the evening, is the fact that there's much more to the speakeasy than first meets the eye. Photo: Rhythm & Ruse Hosts Tom and Rosie Archer (Sam Booth and Mallory Gracenin, The Burnt City/Sleep No More) do little to quell these suspicions. We're introduced to the pair long before the show begins, with Rosie sat blindfolded on stage, transcribing a vision onto a piece of paper while Tom silently looks over her as guests as shown to their seats.   Once the show begins in earnest, there's talk of how we should all be in the habit of believing in the impossible every day to help make our dreams come true. Is it merely a motivational speech or part of a recruitment drive for their secretive society? Either way, the pair complement each other wonderfully, with Tom's charismatic steadiness anchoring Rosie's more mischievous and free-spirited approach to hosting. Photo: Rhythm & Ruse Once the show begins in earnest, there's talk of how we should all be in the habit of believing in the impossible every day to help make our dreams come true. Is it merely a motivational speech or part of a recruitment drive for their secretive society? Either way, the pair complement each other wonderfully, with Tom's charismatic steadiness anchoring Rosie's more mischievous and free-spirited approach to hosting.   Rhythm&Ruse quickly settles into a rhythm that sets the pace for the evening. A performance takes place on the main stage, followed by a break. During that break, either a fresh round of drinks arrives as Tom, Rosie, Ruby, and Charlie (the second society member, played by Elliot Rodriguez) mingle and interact with guests, or one of the show's nine close-up magicians will arrive at your table for a personal performance. Afterwards, the focus shifts back to the main stage, and the cycle repeats.   It’s no surprise that every encounter with one of the close-up magicians is an intimate and thrilling experience. The close quarters in which they operate, with everyone mere feet away, allow you to interrogate their every move, and across the evening every guest gets a chance to be part of the action. Throughout the show, four magicians will sit alongside you at your table to perform. During our visit, we spent time with Laura London, Puck (Eddie), Saavan Thethy, and John Welles, who were all excellent. Photo: Rhythm&Ruse   From seeing someone's jewellery vanish into thin air before reappearing moments later attached to a set of car keys to having a billiard ball thump onto the table out of a playing card pack or collectively powering a lightbulb through a daisy chain of hands linked to a non-existent battery, each performance would elicit reactions of amazement and awe.   The on-stage performances from Naomi Banks and The Revellers have a similar effect. Under the musical direction of Banks, who regularly drew large crowds as Orpheus within The Burnt City's Peep, the five-piece band delivered a series of phenomenal renditions of songs, including I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone and Why Don't You Do Right? by Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman. These performances are perfectly suited for the show's decadent jazz age setting and are a great showcase of Banks' powerhouse vocals. Photo: Rhythm & Ruse A select few guests at every performance have the opportunity to pull back the curtain and discover more about the mysteries surrounding The Starling in intimate moments away from the main room. During our visit, an out-reached hand from society member Charlie midway through the show was our invitation to talk privately. According to Charlie, our auras were so radiant that he and fellow society member Ruby had no choice but to pull us aside to talk, away from inquisitive ears.   We're told that we're right for the flock and are on our way to becoming a part of it. "You make the shadows disappear. A light beams out of you that just... attracts people towards you" said Charlie as we locked eyes intensely. While it's impossible to get to the core of what all of these allusions to secret societies add up to in just one visit, it's a tantalising starting point for the ongoing narrative that Rhythm&Ruse will reveal over the coming months and years. Before the end of 2024, there are planned seasonal updates to the show for Halloween and Christmas. With the producers holding the answers to what else is at play within The Starling close to their chests for now, we're seemingly playing the long game when it comes to finding out exactly what they have in store for us and our radiant auras. Photo: Rhythm & Ruse If you asked us how any of the magic on display at Rhythm&Ruse is achieved, we wouldn't be able to answer you. The satisfaction of witnessing magic up close doesn't come from knowing how a trick is done; it comes from the unknowing. There is one thing we can say with certainty though... Rhythm&Ruse is one of the best nights out we've had all year, and we can't wait to return. Photos: Rhythm & Ruse ★★★★★ Rhythm&Ruse is currently booking until 4th January 2025 at The Vaults. Tickets start at £37 and include five curated cocktails. To book and find out more, visit rhythmandruse.com To stay up to date on news, previews and reviews of immersive shows like Rhythm&Ruse, follow us on Instagram .

Ahead of Pure Expression's site-specific staging of 1984 returning to Hackney Town Hall next month, Immersive Rumours sat down with director Jack Reardon to discuss his plans for the show and how this iteration of the show drastically differs from the 2023 version. Immersive Rumours: Hi Jack. Thanks for speaking with us today. Do you mind telling us a bit about your history of directing and how that led you to becoming involved in 1984: A Unique Theatre Experience? Jack Reardon : So I'm originally from a very small town in Ireland called Clonmel in Tipperary. I trained and did a Master's at The Lir Academy, and then spent the next eight years there in Dublin. I was really fortunate with the companies I got to work with and had an amazing experience immediately working at scale. One of my first jobs was on Let the Right One In, which John Tiffany originally directed. It was the West End production that came over to Dublin, which immediately showed me what theatre was capable of doing. I feel very fortunate for that because I think particularly young artists come into the industry, and they have to go through the fringe scene. Great credit to it, but I was very lucky to get to work in those big houses and see what working at scale looked like. I tried to bring that experience into my own work, and while I still did fringe theatre in tandem with it, I found a cohort of people in Ireland with whom I got to create work at scale over a couple of different summers at home in Tipperary . What started out as all of us having maybe € 3,000 to pay a bit to people, with Mam cooking for us for a few weeks in the summer led to us getting one of the biggest awards in Ireland, which is called the Open Call award. That resulted in a cast of 100 people where we were outside doing site-specific, huge spectacle theatre. That then brought me to London about 2 and a half years ago. I've been very lucky and fortunate here with the people I've gotten to meet and the advice I've been given. I think London is incredible at saying 'Come in, have a cup of tea, have a chat, and we'll point you in the right direction' which brought me to 1984. It was the Young Vic who suggested me to Maddie [Wilson, Producer] and Adam [Taub, Executive Producer] to touch base with because of a conversation I had with them where I talked about my experience. I think that's what's amazing about this city, people are afraid of it, and rightfully so sometimes, but when London's good to you, it's very good. IR: You’ve had experience devising immersive/site specific work before with Overlook - a show that was set to explore military life inside a former army barracks. Can you tell us a bit about the experience of working on that show and how ultimately the COVID-19 pandemic cut it short? JR: Overlook still breaks my heart today... we were due to create this immersive show with the Irish Defence Forces. We were a week away from going to the barracks in Kilkenny to train with the Defence Forces for a few days, then we got an email that said 'Hi everybody. We're a little bit nervous about this virus thing, so we're going to delay by a week.' Fast forward a couple of months; the world's locked down and the show was pulled. So much of the pre-production that went into that was incredible for both the work I'm doing in 1984 and indeed a lot of other shows I've done. The term site-specific is great, but I became more interested in the idea of site-responsive. How do you go into a space and allow it to be comparative to production, rather than just going in and slapping any old show up and onto it? You have to let that space tell its own story. So I think for 1984, when audiences step into that world, just the architecture alone of Hackney Town Hall, you walk in those doors and everyone goes, 'Oh, OK, yeah' and you feel it. That's design that you couldn't buy; you couldn't design it. The aura of that space is tangible. When I did Overlook, that in part became From Out the Land  with a lot of the research that we did over the next few years, which was also in the barracks but now outside, end-on theatre. The biggest thing was, how does the ground literally speak to the production, and how does it feed into it? How does it make an audience exist much more lively and freely in that world? IR: Hackney Town Hall would be an impressive venue for any show, but for something like 1984 it feels like a perfect fit for the Ministry of Truth with its striking architecture and period feel. How much of the decision making of what's going on in the show is in response to the venue, and how much is trying to get the venue to fit around the show? JR: There's always a bit of a give-and-take. I think where Hackney Town Hall gives, it gives limitlessly. The upstairs council chamber room, for example, every time we brought creatives into it, everyone has just gone, 'Well, we're just leaving this alone. You don't need to do anything to it'. Its regalness, authority, and purpose are so tangible. Ruth [Badila], our incredible designer, said 'We would spend a fortune and come nowhere close to designing this.' It's a gift to a designer and to a production. On the flip side of that, when you're downstairs in the atrium, our production still has to tell a story. How do we make this space into an observation centre that can be inside, outside, in a secret bedroom? How can it also be a torture room? How can it be Room 101? Hackney Town Hall atrium is a beautiful space. Thankfully, it's not a torture chamber. So how do you use it when it gives, and then how do you be creative with making that work? Thankfully, the incredible design team that are on board with this show, I'm so fortunate that we got them all to join us. The ideas that we have, the innovation - I don't think I've seen it personally in an immersive setting before. There are a whole lot of tricks and twists from a design perspective to make that building into what we need it to be. It's a show that's definitely for all the senses; it's going to spark some interesting responses. IR: This iteration of 1984 Immersive has been reworked from the 2023 version of the show. Can you tell us a bit about how it’s different and how those changes came about?  JR: Full respect to the previous iterations of Adam's script, but I think there was almost too much respect given to what a perceived production of 1984 might be and might look like. Maybe it was too faithful to the novel. When I came on board, the thing that I was most interested in was, Why now? Why do 1984 today? I think my production of 1984 is a production for today's audience. It speaks to us now as much as it does honour Orwell's 1940s novel. I think the biggest change among many other things is that it's a completely different production. It's not blue boiler suits. It's not strictly coming in and just watching a couple of scenes play out. It's much more intricate in bringing design into it and bringing audiences on this journey where I think, frighteningly, we can see ourselves in it, or at least we can see our countries and governments in it. I think people will be able to find a lot of touchstones to this production that feel much more now than it did previously. We could have just done what happened last year, but I think credit goes to Adam and Maddie, who wanted to evolve because they know what it can be. It will feel very different from previous iterations, but hopefully in a much more exciting way. It's a show that's definitely for all the senses; it's going to spark some interesting responses. At all times in our production, even when characters believe they have found a nest of solitude and a private corner, they are constantly being filmed and broadcast to the audience. IR: What aspects of Orwell's original novel were you most excited to explore when you first came on board? JR: I think that one of the biggest aspects that really appealed to me was making an audience feel complicit and how easy it is to be complicit in these things. You look on social media or regular media and find yourself going, 'What am I doing to fix that?' I think 1984 is great at showing a society in which you can't do anything. Your literal thoughts are policed to prevent you from acting out. I think so often we see so much happening in our world, but we find it hard to get involved. Don't get me wrong, people are doing incredible things the world over in contrast to that, but I think it's petrifying to see how these regimes get into power. In our world today, the rise of the far right is quite scary. 1984, as a novel and as a play says, yes, it is, but this is how it happens and this is how they do it. That's really interesting, exciting, and terrifying, but also insightful within our production to see how that happens and maybe how much you play a part in that as an audience member. IR: There's also an increased amount of AV elements being used in your version of the show. Can you tell us more about the impact that'll have on the show? JR:  So the big thing for me, both from the original novel and from Adam's script, is this idea of surveillance. The phrase Orwellian has become part of our vernacular, but when you actually think about what that means... right now I'm in this room and there's a CCTV camera in the corner. There's a webcam looking back at me. There are three cameras on my phone. We're constantly surrounded by them. The more and more research I did into current political systems, everything we see is because someone has a camera in your face at all times. I became really interested in this idea of surveillance and live cameras. Alongside Dan Light, our incredible AV designer, we're working out how that comes into it. At all times in our production, even when characters believe they have found a nest of solitude and a private corner, they are constantly being filmed and broadcast to the audience. We've got an incredible statement wall that we're going to use in a very exciting way with our live AV, but it all comes back to that idea of surveillance from the novel, from this script, and from our world today. How do you feel when even your most intimate conversations are being picked up on and broadcast to the world? IR: As we're speaking today you're midway through rehearsals for the show. How has that process been so far? Once you're working alongside the cast, how much of what you had planned changes once everyone is in the same room? JR: Our first two weeks were with our three principal actors, playing Winston, Julia, and O'Brien. They're the major voices in many of the scenes, so we figured out what the play was, and when Adam the writer came to see a run-through of that, I can't remember what his comment was, but he said, 'Maybe think about something else happening at that moment' and I went, 'Oh, Adam, there's another play on top of this play once we bring in the ensemble and cameras and equipment into it'. I think he was very excitedly blown away by the scale of what we were trying to create. This week has been bringing ensemble into that, and in short, a week ago we had this amazing torture scene. Now we have an amazing torture scene with three live cameras and five additional bodies. I'm not giving anything away, but we're doing some interesting things. Everything gets enhanced in these two weeks. In terms of what we plan versus what happens in the room, the greatest thing for me in working with actors is the creativity. Actors are incredible creatures in how they can make something work. If there's a line that's sticking for you, an actor comes in with their own interpretation, and you go, 'That's exactly what it is.' It's been their input into it, both the three principles and our incredible ensemble, of not how we've changed things, but how we've evolved things, we've made it better. To my creative team, I always say, 'Your genius is better than my genius'. I believe that if we share ideas, they will grow and become better, and everyone is there for a reason. Everyone has been incredible in bringing their own ideas, innovation, creativity, and genius into the room to enhance the production further. Immersive 1984: A Unique Theatre Experience  runs from 1 October 2024 to 22 December 2024 at Hackney Town Hall. Tickets are priced from £24.50. To find out more and buy tickets, visit immersive1984.com

From boozy immersive dive-bars, to fantastical Christmas adventures and festive three-course meals, here are our recommendations for the best immersive shows in London this side of New Years... This guide was first written in 2023, and does not reflect which immersive Christmas experiences will be available in 2024. Please check back on ImmersiveRumours.com in early December for this years, or follow us on Instagram  for regular updates on new immersive experiences in London before then. With the nights drawing in and the temperature beginning to drop, Christmas is fast approaching. While London has no shortage of festive activities (we're looking at you Winter Wonderland..), you might be looking for something a bit more interactive and immersive. We've made a list, checked it twice, and these are our picks of London's best immersive experiences this Christmas. From family-friend festive adventures to immersive three-course meals and adults-only parties with Santa, these are the top immersive offerings this Christmas.. Phantom Peak: Christmas at the Peak - The Beast of Winter Hot on the heels of its excellent Halloween season, the town of Phantom Peak will get a festive makeover for Christmas at the Peak. A continuation of the show's ongoing story, this Christmas edition of the platypus-obsessed mining town will have 10 brand-new festive trails for guests to complete. Last year's Christmas season saw storylines including Father Platmus trying to escape imprisonment, the evil Dr. Winter being visited by the ghosts of Past, Present and Future, and Leadbelly - the town's Health and Safety Officer attempting to crack down on unauthorised gift-giving. This year, there's an add-on experience where guests can visit Father Platmus in their Wintermas Grotto, which we're sure will be a great addition to what is already a jam-packed event. Guests will also be able to compete for the Sleigh Queen crown, join Hogwood's Holiday Film-a-thon, attend the Snow Ball and those looking to sharpen their wits can test their skills in The Wintermas Games. To finish all the trails you'll need at least two visits, but a one-off trip is still a great experience, with the various storylines you complete throughout the 4-hour long experience being wrapped up neatly during the closing ceremony. This Christmas, experience Phantom Peak’s very own alternative festive celebration, Wintermas! Step into a town brimming with Wintermas joy as the townsfolk prepare for the arrival of their very own seasonal being, Father Platmus! The town is in lockdown, with all your favourite characters gathered together to make sure the town is set for the big arrival. Imagine entering a vintage Victorian postcard from a parallel world, complete with an odd and slightly old-school Father Christmas figure, festive platypuses knitted by Serbian grandmothers, and a huge tree festooned with all kinds of whimsical Phantom Peak frippery! 📍 Canada Water 💰 From £39.99 🕒 24th November - 30th December 2023 🎟️ Book via phantompeak.com Wishmas: A Fantastical Christmas Adventure Secret Cinema return to London after an excursion up to Birmingham earlier in the year to mount a brand new, original show called Wishmas. The hour-long walk-through experience (which may be the new norm for the company..) will have guests journey alongside new wishes on their way to Father Christmas' workshop. The experience includes a ride on the Wishmas train, encounters with Wishkeepers and Robin, and of course a face-to-face with Father Christmas himself. There are various ticket types on offer, with upgrades including a private audience with Father Christmas and the chance to make your own memento in a crafts workshop. Wishmas is a captivating 60+ minute walkthrough experience that seamlessly blends the best of theatrical entertainment with the immersive wonder from Secret Cinema and Punchdrunk alums. Here, you'll encounter beloved and festive characters as you journey through the story of your Christmas wish. Wishmas is a breathtaking new standard of Christmas adventure, promising an unforgettable journey, teeming with incredible characters and mesmerising sights. 📍 Waterloo 💰 From £29 🕒 14th November 2023 - 7th January 2024 🎟️ Book via wishmas.co.uk Humbug: The Immersive Christmas Dive Bar The co-founder of Backyard Cinema and one of Immersive Everywhere's executive producers are bringing a new immersive experience to London this Christmas. Humbug - an immersive Christmas dive-bar, is opening in Waterloo this November and will welcome guests into a 4-hour long party with the big man himself. Split into two halves, with live music, festive DJ and singalongs following the 2-hour main show, this adults-only experience will see guests try to help Santa regain his Christmas spirit in his favourite watering hole alongside a cast of characters including the disgruntled dive bar waitress and a mailman who's lost all their letters to Santa. A mix of immersive storytelling, Christmas cabaret and festive cocktails, it promises to be a fun-filled party with something for everyone. Cocktails on offer will include 'The Grinch' and the 'Bah F****ing Humbug', which comes with a mince pie on top! Humbug is a brand-new Christmas adventure, set in a never-before-seen venue, hidden under Waterloo station. After uncovering the secret entrance, travel down a magical tunnel of Christmas lights to discover an unbelievable world of games and festivities. Here you will enjoy a 2-hour interactive show, where you meet Santa and his friends for a fun-filled evening of live performance and Christmas shenanigans. After the show the festivities continue into the night with live music, DJs, and sing-alongs. 📍 Waterloo 💰 From £29.50 🕒 15th November 2023 - 6th January 2024 🎟️ Book via humbugchristmas.co.uk The Great Christmas Feast - An Immersive Dining Experience The Great Christmas Feast is one of London's immersive dining mainstays. Now entering its sixth year, the show is quickly become many people's annual tradition - and for good reason. It's Christmas Eve 1894, and Charles Dickens is opening the doors to his home to guests - this immersive production of A Christmas Carol is famed for its world-class storytelling and excellent menu. Guests will tuck into a three-course meal designed by Ashley Clarke that's described as a 'love letter to Christmas in Victorian London'. From Smithfield Ham Hock Press or Covent Garden Pease Pudding for starters and Michaelmas Duck or Tourte au Magi for your main, the meal is rounded off with Epiphany Tart - a black treacle and sweet ginger tart with Chantilly cream and mulled winter berry coulis. Additionally, there's a selection of Victorian-inspired cocktails on offer including the legendary Smoking Bishop, the mysterious Rumfustian and the urbane Marley & Rye. With the the backing of live-music performed by violinist Guy Button, cellist Charlotte Kaslin and percussionist Beth Higham-Edwards, Alex Phelps (Shakespeare’s Globe) stars as Charles Dickens in the immersive show that's seen critical-acclaim and sold out performances for the last five years. You'll see Scrooge, Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of Christmas come to life around you through the course of the 3 hour show. Travel back in time to Christmas Eve 1843 and step inside the enchanted home of Charles Dickens. As night draws in, Charles leads you and your fellow guests through a critically acclaimed immersive production of A Christmas Carol, accompanied by cinematic live music and a three-course Victorian feasting menu. Sold-out for five years and now in its sixth year, every Great Christmas Feast is a special occasion, and the experience continues to evolve. Bigger and better than ever before, a legendary night of feasting, drinking and fantasy awaits. Just remember – Marley was dead to begin with... 📍 West Kensington 💰 From £149.50 🕒 14th November - January 14th 2024 🎟️ Book via christmasfeast.thelostestate.com Velvet Pines - Immersive Christmas Party Swamp Motel have long been shape-shifters when it comes to immersive experiences. With every new production they seem to reinvent themselves. From the excellent Zoom-based escape experience Isklander, to The Drop - one of the most innovative and meta pieces of immersive entertainment we've ever experienced and more recently Saint Jude, the AI-infused audio experience that debuted earlier this year, no two Swamp Motel shows are the same. They return for Christmas with a brand-new experience - Velvet Pines. A mix of fine dining, immersive cabaret performances and meticulous set design, this immersive Christmas party is their most ambitious show to date. With a menu designed by Omar Foster (Masterchef 2023 Finalist), their retro-inspired but wholly inventive three-course menu includes Roasted Jerusalem artichoke, duck miso bourguignon and an iconic Bombe Alaska. By way of entertainment, there's a troupe of artists including aerial performer Angeliki Nikolakaki, performer Ash Weir (But I'm a Cheerleader - Turbine Theatre) and Ginger Johnson (currently on Series 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race UK) on select dates. Oh, did we also mention there's a yeti on the loose?! Welcome to the alpine town of Velvet Pines. The storm of the century is rolling in and we’re cut off from rescue. You’ll need to brave the blizzard and take shelter the hotel, populated by a cast of charming characters devoted to keeping your festive spirits up, even if the power in the town is down. Fortunately, this plucky ensemble have everything you need for an unforgettable Christmas party. Enjoy a drinks reception in the hotel... reception, then take your seat in the grand lodge, dripping in 70’s inspired design. The staff will be working hard to keep the emergency generator humming along as the dining hall plays host to a troupe of daring cabaret acts, a charismatic host and a truly sumptuous menu of incredible Christmas food and cocktails. 📍 London Bridge 💰 From £149.95 🕒 9th November - December 23rd 2023 🎟️ Book via velvetpines.co.uk For the latest news and updates on all things immersive in London, follow us on Twitter or Instagram 🎅

Santa is holed up in his favourite watering hole, and is lacking in Christmas spirit. Can we save Christmas and get him back on his sleigh, or has he hung up his boots for good? Immersive Rumours received complimentary tickets to this show and as such, are disclosing this information before  our review. They have had no input in the below and all thoughts are our own. This review is for the 2023 edition of Humbug. For 2024 the show has expanded and is moving to a new venue. For updates on the 2024 edition of the show, please check back on ImmersiveRumours.com later in the year, or follow us on Instagram for regular updates on new immersive experiences in London. Humbug - a brand-new immersive Christmas dive bar, has just opened its door beneath Waterloo Station for the festive season. Running until 6th January 2024, the experience is a booze-fuelled evening of festive cheer, sing-a-longs and immersive elements. If you're looking for a Christmas-themed night out with friends or colleagues, or are sick of visiting Winter Wonderland for the umpteenth time, this is a fun alternative. We were recently invited down to opening night to check out the experience and share our thoughts - a huge thank you to Hero Social for the invitation. Photos: Humbug/Grant Walker Humbug lies behind an unassuming door at the end of Leake Street - an area of London known for its elaborate graffiti-covered walls. It's a venue so well hidden that we overheard the leader of a walking tour passing by remark they 'had no idea there was even a door there' while queuing to enter. Behind the spray-painted mural of Santa lies an elaborately decorated hallway covered in wrapping paper and presents - it's a wonderful introduction to the maximalist design of the venue, which is covered head to toe in what feels like every single bit of Christmas memorabilia ever made, with sections themed around Mariah Carey, Home Alone and Wham! to name just a few. We're welcomed into Humbug by Rudy - the owner of the year-round Christmas-themed watering hole. They explain that Santa has been propping up the bar for several weeks now. Refusing to pay his bar tab, and without any of their usual Christmas spirit, it's crucial that we try and help Santa find their mojo again in order to save Christmas. Once escorted to our table and given a complimentary welcome drink (part of a VIP upgrade available when purchasing tickets), we're soon introduced to a few other patrons of the bar. Photo: Humbug/Grant Walker There's Daphne - the disgruntled waitress who's long since mentally checked out of the job. With their dreams of singing for a living hampered by a fear of performing in front of an audience, they've little choice but to keep serving drinks and cleaning tables, and Howard - the bumbling mailman who has lost all the letters meant to be delivered to Santa after a few too many post-work drinks in Humbug This trio of characters make up a large part of the immersive interactions on offer throughout the evening. With guests being largely confined to their seating area for the evening, Rudy, Daphne and Howard will drop in sporadically to interact with the larger group surrounding your table. Rudy has a crush on Daphne but is unsure how to express it - at one point they workshop ideas from the crowd on how to best share their feelings. Howard will ask us to write some new letters to Santa to replenish their mailbag, and Daphne undertakes her waitressing duties with the enthusiasm of someone who's at the tail-end of a double shift. Photo: Humbug/Grant Walker Every visit includes a meeting with Santa, who is holed up in a private room at the back of the venue for the first half of the evening. With a peace offering of a present, our larger group of 15 or so are invited to go and meet the main man midway through our visit. Inside, Santa shares that they're lacking in Christmas spirit this year. The workload is immense, a lot of the toys they've delivered over the years are rubbish, and everyone keeps leaving out sugary treats for him. With cries of 'Is it too much to ask for a complex carbohydrate?! Why does no one ever leave me Twiglets?!', Santa denounces the holiday season and insists on staying put. Despite the group recounting tales of their favourite childhood gifts and how much Christmas means to everyone, we're soon ejected by Santa after failing to renew their Christmas spirit. It's all pretty light-hearted fare, and all four cast members do a good job of drawing in the audience to their storylines - even if overall it's not quite enough to keep you engaged and doing things the entire time. If you go in with the understanding that it's a bar first and foremost, with a sprinkling of immersive elements on top, you'll likely walk away more satisfied. Photo: Humbug/Grant Walker There's a large selection of drinks on offer for guests - from mulled wine to cocktails including The Grinch - a tropical mix of peach schnapps, blue curacao, rum and pineapple juice and Bah F***ing Humbug - oat milk, vodka, chocolate liqueur, amaretto and whipped cream topped with a mince pie. With table service throughout, you are stung with a 12.5% service charge on top of every drink order, which quickly pushes the price of a pint above £7. In the way of food offerings, there are Christmas dinner wraps (Pulled turkey, bacon, cranberry sauce, veg and gravy), loaded fries and cheesecake as well as a selection of bar snacks including pretzels, candy canes, mince pies and nuts. Photo: Humbug/Grant Walker As the evening progresses, it turns out to be a group sing-a-long to Last Christmas that finally brings Santa back around. With the crowd being ushered into a main performance space, we're treated to a conclusion of the various storylines established earlier in the evening. Part cabaret, part karaoke, Santa plays the role of MC as each of the bar's patrons gets their moment in the spotlight. The letters we wrote to Santa earlier in the evening are put to good use as Santa and Howard read out some of the naughtiest and nicest things guests wrote down. While we won't be repeating it here, our answer won us some free shots at the bar and a large round of applause, amid the groans of disgust. Photo: Humbug/Grant Walker Despite being light on the proper immersive elements that you might expect, Humbug is still an enjoyable evening out. It's a great activity for those looking to do something different this Christmas, especially if the entry prices of certain other food and drink-focused immersive experiences on offer in London are too eye-watering. ★★★ ½ Humbug runs in Waterloo until 6th January 2024. For more information, and to book visit humbugchristmas.co.uk . Tickets start from £29.50, with VIP upgrades and add-ons available. Thank you to the Hero Social  team for inviting us to experience Humbug. We've got an Instagram reel of the experience which can be found here .

Immersive Rumours received complimentary tickets to this experience and as such, are disclosing this information before our review. They have had no input in the below and all thoughts are our own. This review was originally written in August 2022. For more up-to-date reviews of Phantom Peak's current seasons, click here. Photo: Phantom Peak Sitting in the shadow of the former Harmsworth Quays printworks in Canada Water is Phantom Peak, a new immersive experience from the people behind TimeRun and Sherlock: The Game Is Now. Blending elements of escape rooms, immersive theatre and text-based role playing games, Phantom Peak is a different style of immersive event, and it stands on its own within the London immersive theatre scene. It's an experience that flips a lot of immersive theatre conventions on their head - from making your phone an essential element of the experience, to creating an environment in which the pace is entirely controlled by your own actions - not the world around you. If you're a fan of escape rooms, puzzles and trying to complete storylines and quests when at immersive events, Phantom Peak is a must-do experience. Photo: Phantom Peak We visited Phantom Peak on a weekday evening in August, just a few weeks after it first opened. Speaking to Nick Moran, one of the creators of the experience while there, he described the current state of Phantom Peak as it being in the first stage of a multi-year plan that will see the town expand, the storylines change and develop, and the time period in which it's set in progress and move forward. It will be an always growing experience than changes over time, getting bigger and better. When you first step foot into the town of Phantom Peak you're instructed by one of the towns-folk to log-on to JonAssist, the events companion website on your mobile phone. JonAssist operates like a text-based guide to the town - you'll be referring to it a lot as the website takes you through story trails and tracks your progress as you complete each trail. We were told that there's too many trails to complete in one night, but a healthy amount for those motivated to explore the town and uncover as much as possible is between 5-6 trails in an evening. Using the website is essential to your experience, so make sure you've come with a fully charged phone! Photo: Phantom Peak As you first walk in and around the set for Phantom Peak, it's easy to be taken aback by the level of detail. Everything in the world feels like it has a storytelling purpose. From the Videomatic machines that play archive recordings of the towns history and lore when you enter specific four-digit codes, to the robotic doctor that can diagnose patients based on their symptoms, or the Jonagraph devices that allow you to communicate with those living outside the confines of Phantom Peak, every single piece of technology within the steampunk town is there to move the story trails forward. One of the first things we were prompted to do by the JonAssist was find the Town Noticeboard and try to find out which of the town residents is best to speak to about trying to get to the bottom of a recent scandal that occurred at the annual Fiesta of Friendliness party. The noticeboard was full of different posters and notices, nearly all of which had valuable information for any one of the 16+ story trails currently on offer at Phantom Peak. Without giving away where this story trail goes, it quickly develops into a story of mistaken identities and we spent the next half hour trying to get to the bottom of it, following every twist and turn along the way. Photo: Phantom Peak One of Phantom Peaks greatest strengths is just how deep the storytelling goes. Nothing feels thrown together or there just for decoration, and basically every element of the experience - from the character interactions, to the posters and signs, to newspaper cuttings on tables and desks around town feed into the overall interconnected story of the town, which only gets more complex and engaging the more time you invest into it. Every resident we spoke to had their own views and opinions on the towns mysterious leader Jonas (either positive or negative), other residents, or their own position in the town. The place feels like a real, all be it heightened version of a town with people going about their day to day lives. The most radical difference between Phantom Peak and every other immersive experience currently running is how the show handles big story moments. The moment in time we as guests experience at Phantom Peak isn't the most dramatic or exciting in the towns history, it's just an average day. In typical immersive shows every character is going through their own personal storyline that unfolds over the course of the event whether you are there to witness it or not. Because of this, you could be at the bar or the toilet or just not in the right place at the right time and miss out of a key moment at a Punchdrunk or Secret Cinema show, and there's nothing you can do to stop that. Photo: Phantom Peak At Phantom Peak, that isn't possible because all of the key moments at Phantom Peak only happen when you interact with either one of the robots in the town, or talk to one of the residents about something specific. It's an incredibly refreshing thing to experience as it removes the sense of FOMO that you otherwise get in other immersive experiences. It's impossible to miss key moments because you're the one creating and initiating them. It's storytelling on a personal level, and it makes your visit feel unique and intimate - as if you're the only one witnessing it. During our visit, we completed 8 of the story trails on offer. When you complete one, the resident who wraps up that story thanks you for your help by rewarding you with a small tarot-style card.. Each is numbered and serves as a great memento to remember the experience by. If you're a completionist, it's also a great motivator to keep doing the trails and hopefully collect all the cards across multiple visits. Speaking to the creative team behind Phantom Peak at the end of our visit, they laid out the future plans for the experience - with expansions to the set currently being developed (with hopes to have them completed by October), the experience will have different 'seasons' where the storylines all jumps forward in time and the residents of the town progress with their lives. Residents who are running for Mayor in the current version of Phantom Peak may well win the election in the next season for example, and new quests will be added along with more characters. This should give Phantom Peak an extra level of enjoyment for repeat visitors who can see what the residents of the town have gone on to do as time has passed. Phantom Peak is an amazing experience for those who are fans of immersive theatre. It's been designed to allow guests to have an intimate, personalised experience where they are in control of the narrative and allows for a huge amount of fun to be had exploring everything the town has to offer. With future expansions to the experience planned, Phantom Peak is only going to build and improve upon an incredibly impressive start. We can't wait to revisit and uncover more of the mysteries the town has to offer. ★★★★½ ----- Phantom Peak is located in Canada Water, London. Tickets are available through phantompeak.com with prices starting from £34 per person.Check out our other reviews from Phantom Peak here . Thank you to the team at Phantom Peak for inviting us to experience the show.

Twelve months on from opening, Phantom Peak - the platypus-loving mining town located in Canada Water, continues to be one of the most essential immersive experiences in London. Their latest season, Summer’s Peak, which sees all eyes shift towards the Big Dig - a large-scale excavation happening below the town to uncover the remains of an ancient society, continues to build on the foundations laid in the 12 months prior, and the ambition is now clear - this is a far deeper and more detailed experience than anything else out there today. Physically and narratively, Phantom Peak has been in a constant state of expansion. The footprint of the site has grown considerably with multiple new areas added since opening. The biggest change came when Old Town fully opened during the second season, which effectively doubled the size of the town. Since then we’ve seen the arrival of several seasonal areas, including a Wintermas market and Platy World, a platypus-themed exhibit that held some much deeper mysteries - both located on the site of what was a boat ride present during the opening few months. These regular updates to the site add a renewed sense of exploration for repeat visitors, as no two seasons are quite the same. The site is now roughly 30,000 square ft, easily rivalling the scale of most other immersive experiences on offer in London. The number of story trails offered to visitors has also had an equally large growth - with a total of around 65 storylines having been available across their five seasons so far (once a season ends, those storylines are retired). Through these trails, and within the wider world of Phantom Peak we’ve been asked to do everything from fight off ghosts and ghouls during Hallowed Peak, help Father Platmas escape imprisonment during Wintermas, and give at least one of the towns digital inhabitants sentience and a human body to possess during the Platypus Parade. With every trail involving some combination of puzzle solving, physical exploration and conversing with the townsfolk, the variety of stories that have been written is vast. They’ve touched on everything from corporate espionage, to inter-dimensional travel and masked vigilantes, and they’ve all been of a consistently high standard. The cast that has portrayed the dozens of townsfolk across this first year have largely been excellent - all of them able to improvise and respond to visitors remarks with ease, whether it’s the guests trying to dig into the lore of the world, extract or share a key piece of information, or simply forget what they were meant to ask in the first place. Our personal highlight for some time has been Dr. Winter, the evil scientist located in JonaLabs. Always perfectly balancing being slightly mean to visitors while also so fun to be around that you walk away smiling, even if you’ve just been called a disappointment. The echo’s on him shouting ‘Get out of my lab!’ - his farewell to every guest, is a joy to be on the receiving end of. With Phantom Peak being an ongoing storyline, if you’re a visitor who has invested time into repeat visits in the last twelve months your understanding of, and relationships with the townsfolk that live there will feel a lot more tangible than that of a first time visitor. What may have once been a throwaway comment by someone can hold deeper meaning as more of the story is revealed. Everything you learnt in previous visits is still relevant and only deepens your understanding of the characters and world around you. The residents of Phantom Peak are big personalities with desires and flaws and allegiances that only begin to reveal themselves gradually over time - just like in real-life relationships. The classic bit of advice you hear when talking about immersive shows is “you get out what you put in”, and this is certainly the case here. Despite this, you'd still be able to visit for the first time now and walk away feeling like you've had a complete experience - nearly all of the trails storylines are either referenced or concluded fully during the closing ceremony. If you’d had two visits a season since opening (which is typically enough time to finish all the trail on offer) you’d be running a total of around 50 hours in the world of Phantom Peak That’s about the same amount of time and story as you’d get from a AAA video game like Red Dead Redemption 2 or The Witcher 3, which is apt as more than any other immersive experience we can think of, Phantom Peak feels like the closest thing around to a real-life video game. From receiving trail prompts through your phone, to the collectable trail card rewards you receive upon finishing a storyline, Phantom Peak is able to create an experience as immersive and enthralling as a top-tier video game with no controllers in sight. A recent blooloop article shared news of Phantom Peak’s plans for an upcoming expansion into the US market, reportedly set to be a string of different unique towns akin to Phantom Peak, that would rotate every two years, offering us years more stories to dive into. In an immersive landscape where shows, regardless of their quality, can often only justify staying open for a handful of weeks, months, or sometimes years, even the possibility of a decade-long immersive universe for visitors to explore and get lost in is nothing short of miraculous. In years to come, we'll likely look back on Phantom Peak as not just the beginning of a massive ongoing story, but also the beginning of a new chapter in immersive storytelling. We've been singing the praises of this incredible experience for the last year, and will no doubt continue to do so until the story concludes. If you've not visited before, there's no time let the present to dive into this unique world and see what mysteries you can uncover. ★★★★★ Phantom Peak is located in Canada Water and the current season runs until the end of September. For more information visit phantompeak.com . Check out our other reviews from Phantom Peak here .

Phantom Peak's new Halloween offering gives us an opportunity to speak to the dead alongside Vesper - the town's newest character. We ventured over the Ridge to try it out... Immersive Rumours received complimentary tickets to this show and as such, are disclosing this information before  our review. They have had no input in the below and all thoughts are our own. Photo: Alistair Veryard Phantom Peak is an immersive experience we've spoken at length about before ( see our recent five-star review here ). It continues to be one of our favourite events in London - a big part of that is the regular seasonal updates. With a fresh load of trails recently unleashed for Halloween, we've already visited several times to explore the town and see how Phantom Peak's overarching story continues. This year on top of the ten Hallowed Peak trails available, there's a new add-on for those who want an extra dose of spooks during their visit. For an additional charge, you can take part in Phantom Peak's Spooky Seance behind closed doors with Vesper - one of the show's newer characters. Earlier this week, we travelled over the Ridge to try out this brand-new experience and see what it's all about.... Our séance experience began with Vesper welcoming us in a dimly lit corner of the town's closed-off JonaLabs facility. With only a single lantern to illuminate the space, Vesper asks if we've ever spoken to the dead before. When our group of five all say that we haven't, it's revealed by Vesper that it's also their first time hosting one. They're confident that collectively we can manage it without any hiccups, but to be safe they're going to cast a protection spell on us - just in case... The cast of characters included in each of Phantom Peak's seasons varies based on the main storylines. It's not uncommon for characters to be absent for entire seasons, and later return. For this year's Hallowed Peak, we've been introduced to Vesper - an aspiring medium who has arrived in town seemingly due to the increased paranormal activity that's been reported as of late. With a strong dislike for Spectre - the town's defacto paranormal investigator who's been a mainstay of the show for the last few seasons, they seem determined to prove themselves and out Spectre as being little more than an overpriced racketeer. Those who are up-to-date on their Phantom Peak lore may remember the JonaLabs facility was added earlier in the year during the Platypus Parade season. It's an impressively themed space that we're glad to see is getting some use again. Upon entering, Vesper comments that there was an incident that took place previously involving a JonaLabs employee that ended horribly. During Platypus Parade, Dr. Autumn had their consciousness uploaded into one of the town's robotic inhabitants - something that seems to have happened in Phantom Peak at least a couple of times now. Photo: Alistair Veryard We're invited to take a seat around the ouija table in the middle of the space and talk to some spirits. Guided by Vesper, we managed to connect with a number of ghosts during the experience. With each interaction, our group is invited to place a small wooden trinket we were given at the start on one of three response options - we can either confront, console or condescend the spirits. Each option leads to a different reaction from the spirit, and while it's largely inconsequential which we picked, there was still a feeling of wanting to pick the 'best' option amongst the group. As we've come to expect in Phantom Peak, these interactions with both Vesper and the ghosts we contacted all have the familiar wit and humour you see in every other bit of the show. One of the spirits is after some dating advice (is it okay to go on a date with the zombie version of your own body?), another feels some guilt towards scaring a child - the tone is very much in keeping with what you'd see doing any of the show's ten main trails. As the experience progresses, and with this being Vesper's first séance, it's no surprise that things don't quite go according to plan by the end. The conclusion of the show sees us fleeing JonaLabs and facing some peril at the hands of a spirit. It's an engaging and intense ending that sees us in another area previously unseen since Platypus Parade racing against the clock to escape to safety. Within giving the ending away, the séance is another example of Phantom Peak's commitment to long-form storytelling and directly ties into events of the shows past. While the experience is light on anything resembling proper scares or spooks, overall it's a fun addition to the Hallowed Peak season. Within a show that is built around one-on-one interactions with the townsfolk, getting 20 uninterrupted minutes with a character is great and well worth your time if your favourite part of Phantom Peak is these personal moments. Additionally, for those who are avid trail card collectors, there's a unique card for the séance, which isn't available otherwise. ★★★★ Hallowed Peak runs until Saturday 5th November. Tickets are priced from £39.99, with the Spooky Séance an additional £18.99. Tickets can be booked via phantompeak.com . Check out our other reviews from Phantom Peak here .

As the platypus-loving town of Phantom Peak prepares to open its door for the ninth season of its ever-evolving story, we speak to Creative Director Nick Moran about the past, present and future of the open-world immersive experience. Phantom Peak's Starlit Summer. Photo: Phantom Peak Immersive Rumours: Hi Nick! Thanks for speaking with us today. Phantom Peak's new season opens in a few days time, and with it the show will have had 100 total trails since first launching. If you think back to the opening season of Phantom Peak, at the time did you envisage the show hitting a milestone like that? Nick Moran: I think when we started Phantom Peak, we had an idea of what we wanted to do. We knew where we wanted to go, we knew the overall ending of where Phantom Peak was going to get to. I've always known that from the beginning. I was very confident that the trails system - which is kind of Phantom Peak's thing - would be something people would enjoy. But how we did them and how we do the show in seasons, that was something we learned as we went along. If you'd said to me that we'd do 100 trails back then, I think I would have felt quite unwell, considering how much effort it was to get those first 16 up. Looking back now, they feel quite rudimentary. The trails are much more sophisticated now overall in terms of what they do, how people experience them, the things we use and the content involved. That first season was as much of a learning experience for us as for anyone else. IR: How has planning for Starlit Summer been going? The turnover between seasons is so short this time around you must have to start planning the next one as soon as one opens. Nick: Yeah. This is season nine now, and I would say with each season we get slightly better at planning everything in good time. We knew we had a small amount of changeover time between these two seasons so we have been more organised and I think that's really helped us. The town of Phantom Peak is mostly what it is now and while things do change, there's only so much we can do in that time - we're a temporary venue in London and we can't build a skyscraper, you know? Generally, when a season opens I already know three or four trails that I want to do next season pretty much from the word go, and then the rest emerge when the theme does. It's really just trying to work out what the theme is for the next season and how we make it into good fertile ground for stories that move the town along in a realistic way and feels different but also familiar at the same time. Phantom Peak's Festival of Innovation. Photo: Alistair Veryard IR: Phantom Peak as a town has constantly been evolving season upon season. There’s been multiple expansions and reworks of areas, on top of a string of new inventions being introduced. Why is it so important to keep introducing these changes to the show as part of each new season? Nick: The thing we've always tried to do with new additions to Phantom Peak is that they fill a gap in what we we need, as well as feel different in the way that people interact with them. For me I'm a content guy - I want to make loads of content that people are excited by. The tangibility is so important, so when we're building those machines and inventions that power the experience, it's all about making it so people will smile when they're doing it. People love the Paracryptic mirrors! They love them so much. It's one of those things you don't know at the time. We'll prototype something like that and then we're like, 'Okay, great, it's gonna be unleashed on 1000s of people. So let's see, let's hope it's everything it needs to be'. It's about building something that's robust and exciting as well. Last season the new addition was Klacky. When writing the trails and planning the seasons, we’re always thinking 'It'd be really good if...' and for a long time we really wanted a text input where you could type anything into it, which is so versatile across stories. While it may not be as big or exciting as maybe a new building or something, for us they're big and complicated and takes a lot of manpower and resources. Also, who doesn't love Microsoft Word's Clippy?! We were basically thinking 'What if we make a real Clippy, but it's a dick?'. Every season for us is a question of what can we do that will delight the audience the most with the resources we have. We're a young scrappy startup company - we're not rich - but we're always just trying to think about customer, customer, customer. Phantom Peak's Festival of Innovation. Photo: Alistair Veryard "For me, it's as fun as ever. I think I enjoy coming up with the stories as much as I ever have done. But I think it's consistently the same level of difficulty." IR: The show's first season had 16 trails, but over time you settled on 10 trails (plus a secret one for those who complete them all) being the ideal number for a season. Has it become easier to write them now that number is lower, or has the added complexity made it harder? Nick: The trails are much harder, much more difficult to write now. In season one, there was no real bar for how they should be and every single trail was a new articulation of the world's story. That was exciting enough from our perspective to keep us motivated, but now I'm always like 'Hey, I'm going to tell a story about Perigate this season. What do I want to say that's new about Perigate that I'm excited about? What do I want to say that we've not done before with Perigate?'. For me, it's as fun as ever. I think I enjoy coming up with the stories as much as I ever have done. But I think it's consistently the same level of difficulty since the summer of last year which is probably when we started to hit our stride on how we want to put together the trails. Phantom Peak's Wintermas. Photos: Alistair Veryard IR: You've also shared with us in the past that you'll write several more trails for a season than what ends up in the final show. Can you explain the process of coming up with each season's storylines? Nick: The process is actually really simple. We come up with trails for every character - probably five to eight different ideas for everyone, and then we'll whittle down to the best few. It's a process of elimination, so there's always more ideas. They don't always get written up as full trails, but they'll get quite far along, some of them. In most seasons there's a trail which doesn't work and then it's thrown out probably two weeks ahead of opening. A new trail will come in and basically replace it, because there's always just one that doesn't quite work, and I'm not having people have a bad experience. I'm a perfectionist, so for me, they wouldn't have gone into the show if they didn't work, and they weren't great. I think a couple trails each season, in my opinion, really smash it out of the park. We're always trying to one-up ourselves and write the best thing we can. IR: Which trails from Festival of Innovation were stand-outs for you? Nick: I really liked Some Body to Love - the Halloway trail that involved Jonas. Also, The Last Laugh and Sweet Disposition were my favourites, but it's also a question of personal favourites more than anything else. Oh, and The Very Best! It's great, it's fantastic and had some amazing moments in. Phantom Peak's Festival of Innovation. Photo: Alistair Veryard "Phantom Peak at its heart has a comedy bent to it. Comedy is such an important part of the world - it's got to be funny." IR: The Very Best was our favourite from last season. The title sequence and physical trading cards were such a great parody of Pokemon. You've done a string of trails that parody pop culture in previous seasons, are there any trails in Starlit Summer that do the same? Nick: Well, Phantom Peak has always been culturally literate right from the beginning. I think it's about finding something that we find exciting enough to use as a fun hook for a story. You'll be pleased to know that we're doing our first-ever sequel trail. We've never done one of those before, but we're doing a second Monstermon trail because people loved it so much. We always want it to feel like something where people are in on the joke if there are jokes. That it's exciting, that it's relevant, that it's fresh, that it's frothy and funny. Phantom Peak at its heart has a comedy bent to it. Comedy is such an important part of the world of Phantom Peak - it's got to be funny. And drawing on those things that we find funny is very, very important. Phantom Peak's Wintermas. Photo: Alistair Veryard IR: When writing new trails, how do you balance making them satisfying for new guests, but also rewarding for those who have visited Phantom Peak many times and are more clued up on the lore and backstory of the town? Nick: The most important thing is to focus on a good story. If you focus on a good story that is about a character in a situation with a motive, with stakes that you care about, with a journey that you care about, and people understand what's going on from the beginning, then it shouldn't matter whether it's your first time or your final time. The secret trail is always our opportunity to tell something which is very context-heavy. We need context for the deeper fans - that's always the way that I consider that. As for the rest of it, for example, if we do a trail on Dr. Furbish, I'm going to go out of my way to make sure we get something on Dr. Furbish early in the trail, which explains who he is in a different way to how we've done it before. We've got to make sure that someone who's visiting for the first time will have an introduction to it. For me, it's always about making sure that everyone is always reintroduced, but also, I like long-running TV shows, I like long-running things. I can't be assumed to be studying up on it all the time and having a memory of that. Just a little refresher sometimes is needed within that. As long as we make the story good, it's always compelling. With a good hook at the beginning, it's fun and exciting. It takes people on the journey and makes every step clear and accessible and digestible, then no matter who you are, it should be an exciting place to be and an exciting adventure to be on. Phantom Peak's Hallowed Peak. Photos: Alistair Veryard IR: Given you're now over 300 performances into Phantom Peak, and there are breaks between seasons where you can make changes in ways other shows are maybe less able to do, how much of your decision-making for the show is based on audience feedback? Nick:  In terms of the stories, it's always what we think is best. We can't think about what people would want otherwise you end up working in a fan service-y way, and that's probably not healthy for anyone. What people want for the characters is not necessarily what's best for the stories. We're trying to do the best we can without pandering, but also staying core to our values of what we think are the right stories to tell and move the overarching grand plan of where Phantom Peak is going and what the overall story is at the same time. In terms of the experience as a whole, we're very, very customer-focused. We really, really try and make it something that answers to peoples need. For example, the closing ceremony was created because people said 'Wouldn't it be nice if the show had an ending?' And we're like, 'Okay, we'll give you a closing ceremony'. People said 'Wouldn't it be nice if there was something more puzzle-related?' so we did The Innovation Games. That aspect is for puzzle people, because although the trail may have puzzles within them, puzzles are not the focus. Phantom Peak isn't an escape room, although it has escape room elements in it. It's all about stories, exploration, discovery, adventure, characters, situations, motive, and storytelling. We're always trying to work out what we think the customers want from the feedback. Especially on the food and the drinks, we've always been listening, trying to get better and better. The evolution of the food in Phantom Peak is as much of a thing that we've cared about as anything else. People said they wanted slightly more elaborate, more fancy, Instagrammable cocktails. If that's what you want, that's what we'll give you. Video: Phantom Peak IR: There’s been talk of Phantom Peak expanding to other cities besides London in the future. Is there any news on the potential opening of a USA-based experience? Nick: We'd love to launch Phantom Peak elsewhere. We're still in the process of raising investment for it, so that's the big question. Hopefully something on that front will happen soon. We're looking at venues across the United States. I'm not going to toot our horn on this because it sounds arrogant, but we're currently by some metrics one of London's best experience now which is really exciting. We'd love to take it to other places around the world and expand the world of Phantom Peak. There's so much more that we can do with Phantom Peak - Jonas has his terrible, amazing plans for the universe. Jonas has infinite ambitions let's just say.... Phantom Peak's Festival of Innovation. Photos: Alistair Veryard IR: If you had to sum up your goal with Phantom Peak in a few words, what would it be? Nick: We're really trying to build a world that people can come to and explore, and have adventures. That's what we're trying to do with Phantom Peak, we're trying to make a true other-world experience. That's always been the goal - it's about building a world and a place that people can feel comfortable in, feel excited about, and somewhere they can feel at home and grow with over time. Phantom Peak's Starlit Summer season begins on 21st June and will run throughout the summer in Canada Water. To find out more about the show and to book tickets, visit phantompeak.com

London's best open-world immersive experience returns for the latest chapter in its ongoing story, with 10 excellent new trails for guests to enjoy this summer. Immersive Rumours received complimentary tickets to this show and as such, are disclosing this information before  our review. The producers have had no input in the below and all thoughts are our own. Photo: Alistair Veryard Phantom Peak's latest season offering, Starlit Summer, continues the show's streak of delivering an exceptional open-world immersive experience for guests. The show is fast approaching its second birthday, and this new season crosses the milestone of over 100 seasonal trails since first opening in August 2022. While it's always been in a state of growth and change with regular updates every few months, the show has truly never been better than it is right now, and it's easily the most enjoyable immersive experience on offer in London today. So what's changed since Spring At The Peak? Firstly, the competitive spirit in Phantom Peak is at an all-time high with the introduction of the Cabin Games. Upon entering, tourists are divided into one of three teams (Abs Assemblage, Team Terrence, and Klacky Kabin) and compete to acquire as many tokens as possible. The official process for earning tokens outside of a series of physical games (including a bean bag toss, egg and spoon relay, jenga, and Phantom Peak staple Platyhooks ) is a little vague, with the townsfolk handing them out at their own discretion for anything from making a funny joke in their presence to simply sweet-talking your way into getting a handful of them. During the show's Closing Ceremony, the scores are totted up, and a delegate from the top two teams then face off in a general knowledge quiz about this season's trails to decide the overall winner. Photo: Alistair Veryard Outside of the Cabin Games, Phantom Peak has yet another batch of excellent new trails for tourists to complete. Given that there have now been over 100 trails on offer, it's a testament to the skill of its writing team that they've continued to find new and interesting ways to keep the trails fresh and exciting. Every corner of the venue's 30,000 sq ft space has been mined to propel the stories forward, with clues often hiding in the most unsuspecting places. Phantom Peak is playing the long game when it comes to the show's overarching story, with chunks of its numerous narrative threads being packaged up into bite-sized chunks season after season. Starlit Summer sees the continuation of Mayor Pocket's ongoing diplomatic failings with the fictional towns over the Ridge in Pocket Dial, the return of Perigate's meddling parents (last seen disguised as a pair of marbles in 2023's Wintermas season) in Skytanic, and most notably, Failure To Launch continues the story from the Closing Ceremony of Spring At The Peak, where one of the townsfolk was selected to become Phantom Peak's first Jonanaught and head off into space. Photo: Alistair Veryard Phantom Peak also continues its long-running trend of parodying pop culture, with Whiskers In The Dark's Rocket Raccoon pastiche being a particular highlight. While it's not the first time immersive theatre fans have been able to interact with anthropomorphised  raccoons (see Secret Cinema's Guardians of the Galaxy experience in 2023), it demonstrates Phantom Peak's commitment to prioritising engaging and funny storylines that are accessible to everyone over anything else. Elsewhere around town, Klacky, an evil version of Microsoft Words paperclip assistant Clippy, continues to have quite the impact, being responsible for several dozen murders across all 10 trails. The variety of storylines on offer has never been better, and teases for what's yet to come in Phantom Peak leave you excitedly awaiting their upcoming Halloween season, despite doors only just having opened for Starlit Summer. Photo: Alistair Veryard One element of the Phantom Peak experience that sets it apart from nearly every other immersive offering in London is the welcoming and positive atmosphere that reverberates around every corner of the town. From townsfolk recognising guests from previous visits and greeting them like old friends, to the openness that the latest additions to the cast have for everyone that approaches them, Phantom Peak is a town that feels like an idyllic version of real life, despite the occasional murder... According to Phantom Peak's Creative Director Nick Moran , their goal with the show has always been "building a world that people can feel comfortable in, feel excited about, and somewhere they can feel at home", something they've achieved to great success. Photo: Alistair Veryard There's ample time to check out this latest season of Phantom Peak before the town transforms for its upcoming Halloween and Christmas seasons, with Starlit Summer running until 15th September. Suitable for all ages, it's an ideal family activity for the summer holidays and just as much fun for grownups looking for a date night or group outing. You'd be hard-pressed to find another experience in London that can match the level of enjoyment Phantom Peak offers guests. It's without a doubt the best open-world immersive experience in the UK right now, and seemingly can only be topped by itself season after season. Photos: Alistair Veryard ★★★★★ Phantom Peak's Starlit Summer runs until 15th September 2024 in Canada Water. To find out more about the show and to book tickets, visit phantompeak.com We recently spoke to Phantom Peak's Creative Director Nick Moran about the past, present and future of Phantom Peak. Read our interview here .